HammO Hamilton Rogers

Long post alert! Bats are possibility the champions when it comes to #extremeears and amazingly can change the shape of their ears in an instant to hear better. You probably know that bats rely on their hearing more than any other mammal. After all, bats navigate the night sky by hearing the results of their echolocation, their natural sonar system. Turns out that’s just the beginning of what makes bat-hearing amazing. In order to better hear the returning ultrasonic pulses that they send out, bats can actually change the structure of their ears, going from one extreme configuration to another in just a tenth of a second. Researchers at Virginia Tech University proved that in about 100 milliseconds, some bats can alter his ear shape significantly in ways that would suit different acoustic sensing tasks. A human blink of an eye takes two to three times as long. As a result of these shape changes, the shape of the animals’ spatial hearing sensitivity also undergoes a qualitative change. Different ear configurations emphasize different “spotlights” for the creatures’ ultrasonic hearing. This means that, depending on how the bat has its ears arranged, it will get different types of information back from the echolocation pulses it emits. By quickly switching ear shapes, a bat can get much more information about its surroundings than would otherwise be possible. What an amazing adaptation (Fact credit @gizmodo / 📷 @sveinbekkum ) #bat#bats #batears #longearedbat#batfacts #longearedbatfacts #ears#animaladaptation#animalfacts#animalfactsforstevo